The invention relates to an automatic vending machine comprising a housing with a front panel in which a section for displaying one or more articles available for users, a section for receiving coins and/or bills, and a section for discharging one or more articles stocked in the housing.
Nowadays there have been used various kinds of automatic vending machines for vending various kinds of goods or articles. In many cases a single automatic vending machine can vend a few kinds of similar articles. In such a machine there is further provided on the front panel a section for selecting any one of these articles. For example, there are arranged on the front panel a plurality of article selection push buttons and when any one of them is actuated by a user after a given amount of money has been inserted, the machine can discharge one or more articles which have been selected by the user. Usually the automatic vending machine further comprises a section for counting an amount of coins and/or bills inserted, a section for displaying the counted value of the inserted money, a section for admitting a discharge of articles, a section for calculating change, a section for discharging the calculated change, a section for checking the discharging operation of the articles, a section for indicating or displaying a "hindrance" of the machine, and a section for indicating a "sold out" of articles.
The above mentioned various sections are necessary for completing the correct vending operation in the automatic vending machine. Thus the freedom of design is very little and all of the known machines have substantially the same outer appearance. In order to make a noticeable difference the automatic vending machine should have particular ornamentation and/or particular function so as to increase purchasing power of users.